Joel Santo DomingoAcer Spin 7 (SP714-51-M4YD)The Acer Spin 7 is the thinnest convertible-hybrid laptop on the market, and it is a joy to carry. But its ultra-slim build means battery and benchmark test performance lags rivals.

Only two USB-C ports. Non-backlit keyboard. Lower-voltage processor is on the slow side. Rivals have significantly longer battery life.

Bottom Line

The Acer Spin 7 is the thinnest convertible-hybrid laptop on the market, and it is a joy to carry. But its ultra-slim build means battery and benchmark test performance lags rivals.

The Acer Spin 7 (SP714-51-M4YD) ($1,249.99) is the thinnest convertible-hybrid laptop to hit the market thus far. To achieve its 0.43-inch thickness, it uses a fanless Intel Core i7 processor and eschews traditional USB ports in favor of the slimmer USB-C. This also means less space for batteries, however, and the Spin 7 therefore has a shorter battery life than rivals like the Lenovo Yoga 910, our current top pick. This is an attractive 2-in-1 laptop, but other choices give you more features if you don't mind carrying something slightly heavier.

Design and Features

The Spin 7 is just 0.43 inch (11mm) thick, and measures 12.78 by 9.04 inches in its other dimensions. At 2.87 pounds, it is both lighter and thinner than the Lenovo Yoga 910 and only barely heavier than the HP Spectre x360 13-w023dx.

The black-colored exterior is broken up by matte silver on the two articulating hinges and the Acer logo on the lid. Unfortunately, unlike the Yoga 910 and Spectre x360, the Spin 7 does not have a backlit keyboard, so you will need to be a touch typist to use the laptop in a darkened room. On the other hand, the touchpad is quite wide, and easy to use for multitouch commands and swipes. Key feel is excellent, and I'd recommend this laptop for extended typing sessions. True, the keyboard on the Yoga 910 has sculpted keys, which are even more comfortable, but this one certainly has more key travel than the one on the 12-inch Apple MacBook.

As with all 2-in-1s, the 14-inch 1,920-by-1,080-resolution (full HD) touch screen may be used in Laptop, Tablet, Display, or Tent modes. Laptop mode is optimized for typing, Tablet mode is best for touch, and Display and Tent modes are best for viewing videos. The IPS display is clear and bright, and it renders consistent color at a wide range of viewing angles. Netflix and YouTube videos look good, and the Dolby Audio–branded speakers can fill a small-to-medium-size room with movie dialogue and sound effects with very little distortion.

Physical connections are limited to two USB-C ports and a headset jack on the right side of the laptop. You can charge the laptop from either USB-C port; you can only charge from one of the Yoga 910's two ports. Thankfully, Acer includes USB-C–to–HDMI and USB-C–to–USB-Type-A connectors, but you will have to remember to pack both for use with external displays and USB hard drives, respectively. The designers of the Spin 7 expect that you'll be using the 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.1 most of the time, as on most modern laptops. I was able to connect over 5GHz Wi-Fi to our Fios network without any issue.

The 8GB of RAM and 256GB solid-state drive (SSD) are on par for this category, matching what you'll find on the Acer Aspire R 14 and the Lenovo Yoga 910. That's enough for everyday multitasking, and the SSD helps speed booting the computer and loading apps. The system comes with the usual amount of preloaded software, including Netflix, Office, and Minecraft, and is protected by a standard one-year warranty.

Performance and Conclusions

The Spin 7 is equipped with an Intel Core i7-7Y75 processor. It runs at 4.5 watts instead of 15 watts, like the i7-7500U found in the Yoga 910. While that means that a cooling fan isn't necessary, something that results in very quiet operation, it also means that the Spin 7 performs slower, as if it used an older Core m5 or Core m7 chip. It returned an acceptable score of 2,678 points on the PCMark 8 Work Conventional test, though that's significantly lower than the score of the Yoga 910 (3,197) or the HP Spectre x360 (3,286). Likewise, the Spin 7 was a full minute and a half behind the Yoga 910 on the HandBrake test (3 minutes, 33 seconds), 142 points behind on the CineBench test (207), and more than a minute behind on the Photoshop test (4:45). And although the 3D test numbers were adequate for the category, they too were far behind the other systems'. Keep your 3D games limited to less-strenuous titles like Minecraft and maybe Diablo III, and you'll be OK.

At 9 hours, 16 minutes, on our rundown test, battery life on the Spin 7 is good but not great. That's enough to last all day, but competing models have enough juice to take you well into the night, including the HP Spectre x360 (14:00), the Lenovo Yoga 900S (12:06), and above all the Yoga 910 (21:28).

In the end, the Acer Spin 7 isn't too shabby. It is the thinnest convertible-hybrid laptop we've seen so far, it looks good, and it has adequate power to do tasks while still lasting quite a while on battery power. But our Editors' Choice Lenovo Yoga 910 does it all better, and for $50 less. Keep the Spin 7 on your short list, especially if you dig the ultrathin chassis, but the Yoga 910 is a sexier (and longer-lasting) choice, even if it is a touch heavier.

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About the Author

Joel Santo Domingo is the Lead Analyst for the Desktops team at PC Magazine Labs. He joined PC Magazine in 2000, after 7 years of IT work for companies large and small. His background includes managing mobile, desktop and network infrastructure on both the Macintosh and Windows platforms. Joel is proof that you can escape the retail grind: he wore ... See Full Bio

Acer Spin 7 (SP714-51-M4YD)

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